The Beginning of the End (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 17

Iris swung her legs over the side of the bed feeling the weight difference in her right foot and her left metal foot. Her feet hit the ground with a light clank of the metal, she tried to walk forward but she got pulled backwards making her almost fall over. She looked down to see IVs in her arm. She ripped them out with no hesitation then as she was walking to the door she spotted her clothes nicely folded in a chair. She walked over and grabbed them quickly changing. There were some black boots by the door that she slipped on, her metal foot slipped in easier than expected. She cracked open her door seeing only a few people walking around, it must be early in the morning, Iris thought as she opened the door and put her head down. She walked over to the elevator and opened it stepping in. Just like at the training facilities someone always stepped in behind her. "Thank you." She heard a man say. She didn't want to say anything so she just nodded instead closing the elevator door. "So, where are you headed?" The man asked next to her, it sounded like Grain but Iris couldn't be to sure. She turned her head to the side ever so slightly to where she could see hit face seeing Grain standing there, "Um.... I am going to speak with president Coin." Iris said in a fakest guys voice you have ever heard. Silence came from Grain as he sat there for a second with a confused face but then quickly covered it up coming up with another question. "Ok what for?" "That's personal." Iris said quickly keeping the worst guys voice ever. She saw Grain now out of the corner of her eye then the elevator stopped and he got off without a word. She closed the door and it started going up and Iris let out a sigh of relief. She knew she wasn't supposed to be out here but what if that talk with Grain just got her caught. She but her bottom lip anxiously waiting for the elevator to stop.

She opened the door walking out towards Coins meeting room. Iris opened the door to see Finnick, Plutarch, and Coin all talking. They all looked at her surprised, as Iris let herself in walking towards a chair to sit down. "Ms. Stoll, what are you doing here?" She heard Coin say as she sat down. Iris didn't say anything as she made herself comfortable then looked up at Coin. "I ask again, What are you doing here Ms. Stoll." Iris looked at her for a second raising her eyebrows faking being interested. "I'll wait." Was all Iris said looking over at Finnick then her eyes flicked back over to Coin. "Ms. Stoll what are you doing here?" Coin said more sternly making a small smirk grow on Iris's face. Iris didn't say anything as she looked around spinning in her chair waiting for Coin to get done. "Um... I think I will see myself out." Finnick said in his calm and composed voice walking out of the door. Iris stopped spinning and watched Finnick leave.

   "We need to talk." Iris said as soon as the door closed behind Finnick. Coin stayed silent slightly nodding her head. "You can't just send my brother out into war when he just came back from one!" Iris whisper yelled at her. "And why not?" Coin asked in a calm voice tilting her head. Iris cleared her throat, "You must not of heard me...... he just got away from the capitol and now you are sending him back." "Ms. Stoll have you really talked to him about what happened while you were gone?" Coin said while smiling at Iris with that stupid professional smile. Iris looked at her for a second dumbfounded but then quickly responded, "No.....I have not been able to talk with him." "Well then I see no problem why we can't send him if you don't even really know what happened to him." Coin said looking down at some papers in front of her. "He is my brother!" Iris paused before containing herself, "He is my brother and I will not let you take him away from me." Iris said trying to keep her voice calm. Coin nodded her head as Plutarch looked up at Iris with a cheeky smile on his face. Iris looked down suddenly feeling very self conscious. Coin squinted at her then looked back down at her papers. "Fine....we will see what we can do." Coin said before waving her hand at Boggs by the door.

Boggs came and escorted Iris to the elevator, "So when are you leaving?" Iris asked sounding more rude than intended. Boggs stayed silent for a moment, "And how do you know I'm going?" He said asking another question. "Finnick" was all Iris said answering his question. "Ok your turn to answer." Iris said stepping closer to him. "We are leaving tomorrow morning." Iris ran thoughts through her head as she thought about her brother leaving her again tomorrow morning. "Take me with you." Iris pleaded. Boggs sighed, "Iris you and I both know we can't do that." He stated trying to be clear. Iris sighed not saying anything else as he took opened the elevator and took her back to her bunk.

Max was already gone doing whatever so Iris laid down as thoughts ran through her head. She thought about trying to talk her brother into staying but she knew that wouldn't work because he is always wanting action or..... used to. Now it's like Iris didn't even know him, but what she can see is that the real world has clearly changed him so much that he won't even talk to her about it.

After going through all her ideas and picking them apart Finnick came and sat on the edge of her bed. "Listen I know you're probably angry right now but.......Max volunteered to do this." Iris sat up in bed looking at Finnick surprised. "H-he volunteered?" She asked as Finnick nodded his head. "He volunteered." She repeated not wanting to believe it. "He said something like he wanted to get out again and not be trapped underground because if felt like suffocating." Finnick said shrugging. "So he hasn't changed." Iris mumbled under her breath. Finnick gave her a confused look but Iris waved him along. He smiled at her before getting up and going back to his own bed. Iris sat on her bed twiddling her thumbs trying to come up with a plan to get onto the hovercraft that was taking them to the capital. She racked her brain but everything she thought of always ended up not working out in her brain.

Iris laid down putting her blanket on and turning to her side where she saw a little boy and a sister laying together sleeping. She looked at them for a moment while thinking about how her and Max's relationship used to be....but now all of that is gone. Iris pushed those memories to the back of her head as she turned over onto her other side and closed her eyes trying to fall asleep. Her eyes popped back open as she wasn't able to sleep. She slowly sat up in bed careful not to make any noise. She stood up and walked over to Finnicks bed to see if he was still here. She saw him fast asleep but there was a black backpack next to him. She carefully picked it up and searched through it looking at all the items in it. She furrowed her eyebrows then set the bag back down carefully before walking to the elevator. On her way to the elevator she saw someone else have the same black backpack. She quietly walked over and searched through it finding the same stuff that was in Finnicks bag. She slipped the backpack onto her back and headed for the elevator.

She opened the doors and saw the hovercraft waiting for the small group to wake up and get ready to go. Iris found a bathroom nearby and changed into the clothes in the backpack. She slipped it back on walking out of the bathroom and seeing the sun start to rise. Iris sped walked onto the hovercraft to find Clove sitting in one of the chairs...waiting. Clove looked up at her surprised. Iris breath started getting shaky again and her heart stared to beat faster under Cloves soft gaze. Iris shook her head a little before coming back to the real world, she put her fingers up to her lips and telling Clove to be quiet about this. Clive smirked then nodded before laying back against the seat and closing her eyes pretending to sleep. Iris went and hid behind a crate and set her backpack down next to her. She heard district 13 start to wake up, people were talking and running around. Iris laid her head back against the crate and closed her eyes finally feeling tired.